BREAKING: Team Ford Forced to Recant False Denial

Unsolicited Text Messages Did, In Fact, Come From Conservative Party

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Toronto – Doug Ford’s Conservative Party today had a simple explanation to explain unsolicited text messages sent to countless people across Ontario: They sent them. Trouble is, that’s not the story they told us only three weeks ago.

On April 30th when the Conservative Party was approached by Global News with questions about unsolicited text messages to people who had not shared their personal data with the party, they issued an emphatic denial.

"Melissa Lantsman, spokesperson for Doug Ford, issued a statement denying any involvement in the mysterious communications:

‘There is no text messaging being used by the Ontario PC Party at this time. Our vendors have assured us that any and all communications on behalf of the PC Party are in compliance with the rules in place.’

Today, in a mad scramble to contain the widening scandal over the 407 ETR data breach, they declared that these text messages were not the product of unlawfully obtained info. Presumably forgetting their earlier denial, they copped to the messaging strategy:

So which is it? Was Doug Ford’s team misleading the public today? Or three weeks ago?

Let’s see if we can break this down. We know the following:

There are at least two police investigations into the theft of personal and private data belonging to at least 60,000 people from the 407 ETR.

That same personal data was in the possession of a Conservative Party operative, Snover Dhillon.

Snover Dhillon has also been implicated in media reports of falsifying memberships for Conservative nomination races in dozens of ridings.

People who never shared their information with the Conservative Party are getting text messages from the Conservative Party.

In April, the Conservatives denied that they were sending unsolicited texts.

Doug Ford’s team can’t keep their denials straight. And the public isn’t interested in listening to them any longer. It’s time to call in the police, identify and fire the implicated candidates, and guarantee that the Conservative Party is not in possession of any stolen data.